On May 13, 2026, Ms. Yaping DENG, Chairwoman of the Deng Yaping Sports Industry Investment Fund, and her delegation visited the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) for research and exchange. They were received by Vice President and Provost Hongwei FANG and others. 

As one of the most representative athletes in the history of Chinese table tennis, Yaping DENG has won four Olympic gold medals and 18 world championship titles, and became the first athlete to achieve a table tennis Grand Slam, having claimed Singles Championships at the Olympics, World Championships, and World Cup. After retiring, she actively engaged in sports industry investment, explored new models for national fitness operations, and devoted herself to promoting cross-industry integration of sports with technology and education.

Hongwei FANG welcomed Yaping DENG and her delegation, and introduced SUSTech’s achievements and strengths in discipline construction, talent cultivation, and scientific research innovation. 

Yaping DENG highly praised the rapid and high-quality development at SUSTech, and engaged in friendly exchanges with teachers, conducting preliminary discussions on topics such as sports technology transformation and innovations in sports and health. 

Yaping DENG and her delegation visited SUSTech’s Institute of Robotics, Artificial Intelligence Exhibition Hall, and relevant laboratories in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. She gained a detailed understanding of SUSTech’s research progress in robotics, artificial intelligence, liquid metal-based intelligent human-machine interaction systems, brain-robot rehabilitation technology, and contactless vital signs monitoring devices, and paid special attention to the integration and application potential of these research areas in sports.

Yaping DENG came to the Comprehensive Gymnasium to provide in-person table tennis guidance and demonstrations for faculty and students, and interacted in table tennis with Shuhong YU, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Wenbin XIA, dean of the School of Marxism at SUSTech.